Odometer: 00230

A lovely day

A little cool in the morning, before the fog cover burnt away, but now it's sunny and lovely and perfect. I felt the cool air on my shoulders and thighs as I rode in. Fall is somewhere nearby in California, but we'll have another burst of hot weather before October. Perfect motorcycling weather.

Hilarious department: Jakob Neilsen weighs in on the Danger device, which he got a chance to use a bunch at DemoMobile. He makes some criticisms that I agree with completely and some I think are just whackily wrong. (Handwriting faster? In what universe is that faster than typing? Seriously, dude, no.) But I loved what he said about that vile, repellent, disgusting name chosen for us by... never mind. Don't get me started. I also think he's onto something with the SMS as separate app problem, though he has the solution wrong. Not that anybody listens to me.

Gah. Yes, frustration. And of course if everybody did everything the C J Way the world would be a better place, well-nigh perfect. Oh yes. Ha ha. I so don't care any more except on alternate Tuesdays.

And now for our continuing history lesson: here's the ultimatum sent by Austria-Hungary to the Serbs in what year, children? Yes, that's right, 1914, following an assassination. What happened with that ultimatum delivered to a government accused of harboring terrorists? A big war fought in France, of all places. Over other issues. I spent a bunch of time today reading about the start of the Great War, its causes, and the politicking leading up to it (over decades). High school history classes are creaking down from the attic of my memory and the stuff is beginning to come back.

I told David that I had a hard time deciding either side was "evil" in the Great War. In WWII, that was easy, and it was obvious who the aggressor was, and obvious that its policies were actively evil.

Here's what I wrote to Kieca about it, with some edits for clarity:

Today's entry will be full of World War I links. I wasted too much time today reading about the start of The Great War. How did it start? With a terrorist assassination of some royalty from Austria-Hungary. A-H then sent an ultimatum to the gov't of Serbia, demanding that it stop harboring terrorists and promoting terrorism.

Sound familiar?

The world is less of a powderkeg than it was then, if you can believe it. France was chomping at the bit to attack Germany. Russia was in a bit of a pre-revolutionary mess: the Tsar didn't want war and gave various orders de-mobilizing troops, but his Cabinet went and sent its army off to go defend Russian interests in Serbia anyway. This pissed off Germany. France, which had treaties with Russia aimed against Germany, mobilized and camped its army at the German border. Germany-- not really the aggressor, despite what they told you in pap-school; the aggressor was pretty much Russia, which never did anything without checking with France first-- Germany then marched on France. Tragically, they chose the easy route according to the terrain: through Belgium. This brought Britain, which had treaties with Belgium and was pretty nervous about Wilhelm II's European power aspirations, into the war.

Britain's involvement eventually got the US in. The US has so fucking many resources and so much wealth that it steamrollered what was left of Germany and A-H, just like it did in WWII.

It was essentially a massive failure of the diplomats. They all screwed up and landed their countries in a war that nobody really, truly wanted.

Does the world have a Russia in the near east, ready to get annoyed by the US's presence there? Pakistan will roll over like a submissive dog, not too eager to see its economy get melted down by an annoyed America. (Its military leadership will get fucked over by a revolution by hardline frothing fundamentalists anyway.) China could make the world explode into war if it wants. China is likely to be more interested in destroying the West economically, however.

But what the fuck do I know? Can't turn myself into a foreign policy expert overnight. Gotta keep reading. To what point? I sometimes ask myself. What does it matter if I understand the issues? Nobody will ever ask me....

What is it but a distraction anyway? Who cares about the causes of World War I? There's David, eagerly reading his Columbia encyclopedia of world history, poring through the timeline of events in 1913. He's distracting himself. It's either that or think about the people who got pulped last week, and what you have to do to avenge them and make sure it never happens again.

Had sushi for dinner with David, in our favorite restaurant in downtown Palo Alto. It was nearly empty. I guess it's Monday night. I dunno. I'm trying to do small things to maintain the marriage right now. Change the oil. Check the brake fluid. Feed David sushi. Talk to him nicely about things we won't argue about.